


Heat Pains

by Beryllium_Astatine



Series: Some Nonsense Eating Love Away [3]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Consensual, F/M, It's tame I swear, Lemon, My First Smut, Smut, not a/b/o
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:55:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29727951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beryllium_Astatine/pseuds/Beryllium_Astatine
Summary: Being a Were wasn't always a comfortable position to be in. Despite their outward fitting with society, and their unquestionable humanity, Weres had essential differences in relation to non-Weres in the world.For instance, the heat issue.
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Series: Some Nonsense Eating Love Away [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087691
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Heat Pains

**Author's Note:**

> This is a standalone fic, but it's recommended to have read the previous works in this collection for further context. [A glossary](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ljbFiH9Tlh3yKkMzQm0aljNBdBcnXox0ZvM2v-IRiLo/edit?usp=sharing) is available for any doubts, too. Thanks @lantur for the beta, and @Rizaran for the support all along.
> 
> Happy reading!

Being a Were wasn't always a comfortable position to be in. Despite their outward fitting with society, and their unquestionable humanity, Weres had essential differences in relation to non-Weres in the world.

The fact one group transformed into wolf-like forms was just the most noticeable one. Non-Weres often reduced Wereness to that capacity alone, which enforced some prejudice towards the Were minority. Still, Weres still blended in with every ethnicity and social class, and the issues became invisible - for good and for bad.

For instance, the heat issue.

Liv, one of his mother's most trusted staff members, had been the one to introduce Roy to Were heats when he was 12. His interest in Alchemy had been solidifying by the day, and one evening Liv had called him to the back room where staff sometimes stayed to sleep, when it was too late to commute home.

She hoarsely asked him for cold tea and to fill the hot water bottle, as she curled up on sheets damp with sweat. Roy had never seen anyone so flushed before. Liv began whimpering as she struggled to raise the cup of tea to her lips, and he said he could call a doctor. She gave him the tenderest smile, dimples appearing on her round cheeks.

"It's just a bad heat, Roy Boy. A Were thing that happens a few times a year, but they aren't always that uncomfortable." Liv grunted, setting the half-full cup on the bedside table and curling back up like an armadillo.

"Is it… like a Spark? Are you going to Change?" Roy asked, pouring more tea into the cup from the kettle he had brought over in distress.

"Kind of like a Spark, yes, but the opposite. You can't go Human on a Spark, and you can't Wolf in heat. It would make it too easy, I guess." She tried to laugh, but buried her face in the pillow instead. "When you become a real alchemist and a Were yourself, I'm sure you'll know some weird substance that makes it bearable. Right now, please, turn the light off when you leave, and thank you."

That night, Roy laid awake on his bed, the image of Liv's suffering hanging like a veil before his eyes. He even considered giving up on his dream of becoming an alchemist, afraid of the inevitability of becoming a Were sooner or later, and having to deal with that pain himself.

But the next morning Liv was standing up and working, and seemed well despite her tired expression. She served Roy eggy bread for breakfast with a smile, and he concluded that he would probably be strong enough to endure heats as a grown Were, too.

(Only then it occurred to him he didn't know what a "heat" was, exactly, and got dutifully queasy later at the school library while reading a book on Were biology. He was relieved to find out Were heats happened for a few days only a couple of times a year, but the discovery that they felt somewhat similarly to menstrual periods disturbed Roy for life. 

Years later he kept Hawkeye's spare drawer filled with an assortment of helpful items. Havoc once saw him restocking it, and in a glance Roy understood that he, too, felt compassion towards people who dealt with mini heat-like episodes several times a year.)

Time showed Roy that Liv was right: alchemists - and, he discovered later, the military - had plenty of options to ease or even suspend heats, making them much milder. The distribution and application of Were contraceptives (or heat blockers) was widely encouraged by the army apparatus, and Roy happily took them on every semestral medical check-up. Not only did they reduce the biannual symptoms; he was virtually unable to sense others' heats. For a decade, Roy experienced mild fatigue and increased libido instead of whatever Liv was going through.

"A decade?"

The doctor's thin, arrogant eyebrows disappeared in the creases of his forehead. It reminded Roy of that dog breed with a curly tail and no snout. "Yes, sir," he confirmed, buttoning his shirt up.

"You mean to say you have been taking the contraceptives for ten years, twice a year, with no pauses, Colonel?"

His hair covered his bowed head, and Roy took the opportunity roll his eyes. "Yes, doc, exactly."

The doctor nodded, pouting as he scribbled something vigorously on Roy's file. "Very well. We're not applying the dose today, then."

"You- what?" Roy raised his head so fast his neck popped.

"Blockers mustn't be used for such a long consecutive length of time. It can lead to several health issues, like osteoporosis and sexual dysfunction." He closed the folder and placed it on his desk. "But especially infertility. Weres are already extraordinarily infertile outside of heat periods, and blocking them for too long may cause permanent damage in the production and quality of gametes."

"I don't - Doctor." Roy flashed him the most charming smile he could muster. "A convict bachelor like myself is a lot more worried about creating babies _accidentally_ during the heat over-fertility period, than _intentionally_ someday."

"Well, you never know the future, right?" The doctor's forehead creases got as smooth as excessive skin could get. "You'll be able to restart your blockers normally at your next physical. Until then, you might have one or two heats that feel different - likely more intense - than what you're used to. I recommend you make conscious use of other contraceptive methods if you decide to spend those days with someone."

Roy half-wished to Change just enough to scratch those smug folds of skin off his face. "Thank you, doc," he said instead, putting his boots on. "See you in six months."

* * *

Not four weeks went by before Roy felt his stomach dropping when he got up in the morning, spreading through his body in a capillarity of discomfort. His face got warm all of a sudden, and his skin tingled as if blood had rushed into his insides. Roy had no time to register the ache it caused when a galloping throb began clenching his lower abdomen, irradiating to his genitals. He tumbled back onto the bed with a long groan, cramps pulsating through his muscles.

His first unblocked heat in almost ten years felt much worse than the ones he remembered having as a teenager. Sweat drenched Roy's covers as he curled up in different positions, hoping to mitigate the pain enough so he could at least fetch medicine in the kitchen. But each wave of tension brought over a simple impulse, as if it was the only possible, logical solution. The heat dragged Roy from his composure, and before he could rationalize anything, his hand flew between his legs.

Roy first tried to stroke himself lightly, but agony prickled his body like needles, pushing him forward. His movements soon grew faster and faster, erratic, excessive, desperate for release. Their roughness made the delicate skin of his penis red and burning, but the sensations caused by heat were so overwhelming Roy also found himself grinding against the pillowcase.

When he finally finished, he was tearing up. It felt as if an itchy wound had burst, but only then could he tell the relief wasn't really worth how sore his cock felt. But Roy managed to carefully carry himself to the kitchen to take painkillers and hydrate, doing his best not to look at the state of his genitals. He ran a warm bath and crawled inside the tub while it filled up. When a water jet hit a sensitive spot, he wholeheartedly wished he would get osteoporosis instead of going through that situation ever again.

The rest of the day wasn't much better. Roy snarled when he woke up the next morning still feeling the growing throb in his - now even more delicate - loins, and libido luring him with the promise of respite. He could hear the legitimate unease in Havoc's voice when he called to inform his team he was feeling indisposed and would be home for maybe a couple of days, which never happened. But when a thrill ran through his body and Roy's voice cracked for an instant, his subordinate got suddenly very quiet.

"I… I _hear_ it, sir," he muttered simply, almost apologetic, after a few seconds. "I'll tell them what I tell people, that you got food poisoning. Don't worry." 

Havoc paused for a second, as if considering how to say something important. "Wrap a warm cloth drenched in chamomile infusion around your dick and balls, sir," he continued, several octaves lower. "And take a tepid bath, and let the water cool around you. It helps. And put some oven mittens on not to - you know-" Roy heard him scratch the back of his head. "- _exaggerate_ on the relief. Also, baby oil. Loads of it. Be safe."

At first, Roy cursed being a pack with Havoc after going through such humiliation. But he felt a lot better after following his advice, and when he returned the next day - tired, with back pain, and unable to sit in certain positions, but too impatient and embarrassed to take another day off whimpering against his pillow - he invited Havoc for lunch at his favorite restaurant as a thank you.

"I take oral blockers, Colonel. They're more of a hassle and less effective with the whole feeling ill and being sensitive to others' heats thing, but cause less issues long-term. Also, I prefer avoiding needles, thank you very much." Havoc lit a cigarette with his post-lunch tea. "It must be rough to deal with those after a lifetime frolicking around without worries, so if you need anything, just reach out. We're a pack, it's kind of my responsibility."

"Thanks," Roy grumbled. "I'll be relying on you. Don't make me ask for Hawkeye's assistance."

"I'm pretty sure she would recommend going to the shooting range. Or she'd chase you down with a rifle so panic overrides pain." Havoc went quiet for several seconds. "I don't like remembering Hawkeye has heats."

Roy was looking at a point on the wall. "Me neither."

And with that, they fell in silence, leaving the restaurant soon after. Roy was trying very hard to ignore the trail of his thoughts. The last thing they both needed was to wonder about their female packmate's intimate matters, and least of all _how_ she sought to soothe her heats.

"I'm going for a run on the Upper Boulevard later, full Wolf. Would you like to join me, Lieutenant?"

"Yessir." Havoc's hasty reply was all proof Roy needed to confirm he was thinking the same thing. "Racing constantly could help refrain extra breakthrough heats, I think. I mean, we can't Change very far in heat, so if we're often in the Wolf, maybe…" 

"Maybe." Roy yanked the car door open with more energy than necessary to quell a strange warmth that wasn't much of a Were thing.

It seemed like sound advice, though, or at least the best he could find regarding the very little studied Were reproductive matters. Roy began racing three times a week to try and curb new heats. And as the months went with only one other episode two months later - a lot milder than the first one - Roy believed he was going to remain under control until the next blocker shot.

* * *

"... I'm sure this is it, Breda. Layla is the one. We matched noses so quickly, and she's a real bunny, too."

"Sure, Jean." Breda took a bite of his sandwich. "A real bunny, like Marilda last month, and Aline back in New Year's."

"But Aline was a Were," squeaked Fuery, hurrying to match their steps down the hallway. "Would that make her a-"

"Don't complete that sentence, Master Sergeant," warned Roy, without turning to face the group. "That's really rude to say in the presence of a lady Were."

"The entire conversation is quite uncomfortable, to be honest, but I'm willing to endure it to keep tabs on the Second Lieutenant's defeat record." The cadence of Hawkeye's steps was constant like her voice, and that made the group laugh more than the snip itself.

Falman slapped Havoc's back with generous vigor when the Second Lieutenant choked on his napolitana after the remark, causing the group to roar even louder. " _You_ introduced me to Layla, Hawkeye!" He gasped, with a teary voice. "Are you setting me up for disaster?"

"Not at all, Lieutenant. In fact, I made the track easy. I just happen to know you."

When they exited the Eastern HQ main building, even Falman was hugging his middle among the general cackling. Daylight was still bathing the city in a gentle Spring warmth for their monthly gathering at the Clover & Lock pub. Hawkeye's presence in those occasions was inconstant, but cherished, and Roy sometimes wondered if her usual refusal to partake in the meetings was due to being unaware of that fact. He, at the very least, was always pleased to have her company on occasions they weren’t so tightly bound to their military stiffness, as they once were in the past.

(Of course, Hughes warbled about their bond as a Were Pair whenever Roy attributed anything to their long-lasting friendship, but Hughes wouldn’t understand how unnecessary his remarks sounded. While the idea of packs had come to sound relatively normal for most populations, Roy found a little gauche how both Weres and non-Weres projected their ideas of canine loyalty or undying romance to Pairs. His and Hawkeye’s status as one didn’t make them different from others with similar non-Pair relationships, and they had never even openly mentioned it to anyone - not even to each other, even after so many years)

They strolled together towards the bar. Every now and again a factory gate materialized beside the group, and a grey mass of workers poured out on the pavement, slowing them down. The smells of fried food from rickety corner stalls and manhole steam mixed with the smoke and humanity, but Roy didn't let himself begin Changing despite his desire to take the evening in at its fullest. It was impolite, at the very least, to present the Wolf _au plein air_. As a Colonel and the leader of his squad, it would be rude and inappropriate.

Of course, Havoc didn't share his worries, and Roy sensed his Change before hearing his obnoxious reconnaissance sniffing and Breda's indignant scream. They settled in their usual sidewalk table and ordered the same drinks as always, talking about amenities and watching other people - not rarely with ears and snout Popped out - arriving to fill the place with chatter.

"... And you need to begin warn people of it, snoutbrains, some of us have sensitivities!" Breda still vociferated above the clinking of bottles and glasses.

Havoc laughed, and it came out like a bark through his dark muzzle. "You have the sensitivity of the rats I'd chase around the barn as a kid. They also squealed in panic when they saw my gorgeous mug."

"You could truly win some dog shows in the countryside, Lieutenant," offered Fuery, sliding the generous draft beer mugs a waitress set on the table towards his colleagues.

"I _have_!" A wave of laughter ran through the table again. "Take that, baldies, the Wolf is strong in this one." Havoc threw his head back and rolled his shoulders, showing the tan fuzz covering his neck and face. 

Havoc lost a lot of his appeal when he got a nearly full Wolf head in a quasi-human body - he looked more like a dog - but Roy had to admit that he was quite attractive in his early Change, with brown pointy ears and a black nose fitting handsomely in his well-sculpted face.

A slight shift in a familiar aura told him Hawkeye agreed, even though she appeared to not be paying attention to Havoc's exhibition. Roy grinned in the opposite direction she was sitting. Hawkeye took a long sip of her strawberry juice.

A purposefully loud scoff drew the group's attention to the slim woman standing behind Havoc, and made Hawkeye smile. "If I knew I was walking into Jean's private kennel, I'd have gone out with the girls and dragged Riza along!"

"Ugh, no one would've missed you, Catalina." Havoc turned at once, nearly bumping his snout on Rebecca's breast. She skipped sideways just in time, gracefully skidding behind the group and patting the men's shoulders with cheerful greetings.

Rebecca joined the ongoing chat as the pub filled up for the evening: talk about family, concerns about the upcoming physicals, mindless gossip that ran through the HQ's halls. And by the time the moon was riding high and several glasses and plates were piling on the table, the talk turned to Havoc and Catalina's favorite subject.

"I can't believe you subjected Layla to this, Riza." Rebecca pointed a disdainful finger at Havoc, who remained in his early to mid-Change form during most of the night. 

"I don't like her much," shrugged Hawkeye.

"Wait, so you know Layla?" Havoc's pointy ears perked up after he paused for a moment to sneer at his colleague. "Tell me what she likes to eat, so I can surprise her on our date Sunday!"

"Ew, first of all, wolf off! All you do is walk around with a dog face, and your nose is a threat to personal space!" Rebecca leaned away from Havoc's muzzle. He promptly pulled out his tongue and tried to lick her cheek, and she swatted his snout, shrieking.

"Call me a Middler, if you want, Catalina," Havoc laughed. "But it's comfortable".

The waitress set more draft beer on the table, and Falman poured himself some water. "Your interest in taking your date somewhere she'll enjoy is commendable, Lieutenant, but Lt. Catalina is right. Changing can be daunting to non-Weres with whom you have little intimacy."

"Besides, smoking in front of women is not a great look, Havoc. Or smoking just before talking to them. The stench is quite repellent," added Roy, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, and furthermore," Breda leaned on the table, towards his friend. "Layla is the intellectual type. She likes books and opera, and is pursuing a Masters in Engineering. If you want to impress her, you need to put some effort in her interests."

"Hold on, how is it _you_ know her too?! Why didn't you tell me?" Havoc yelped towards Breda, in complete dismay. "You're all in on this! Hawkeye! Were you aware of it?"

Silence followed his words, and all sets of eyes turned to Hawkeye's place. Roy turned on his seat, intrigued. Hawkeye was completely still, eyes glazed over, her mouth slightly agape.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

She snapped her head towards Fuery's quiet voice, panic stamped on her features. Hawkeye blinked a few times before straightening up at once and reaching for her near empty juice glass. "Yes," she stammered, gulping the leftover foam. "I mean, I - I'm sorry. Yes, Rebecca and I were introduced to Layla by Second Lieutenant Breda when we met at the theater. I thought she would be a nice fit for you."

It wasn't lost to Roy how Havoc's nostrils flared for a few seconds before he spun to meet Breda's smug glare. "How?"

"She's my cousin's third cousin."

"H-there's no such _thing_ as that!"

Hawkeye quietly excused herself as the two bickered over the table, and Falman and Fuery spurred them on. Roy followed her movements as she nearly tripped between tables in a beeline towards the bathroom. He almost jumped from his seat when Rebecca got up, dead serious, and went after her.

The group cheered when a plate of roasted potatoes arrived on the table, and everyone was too busy eating and drinking to remember the discussion. Roy kept glancing in the direction the women had gone, nibbling on his potato, when he felt a fork discreetly stabbing his hand.

Havoc was retreating from his Change, and only a slightly darker nose and almond ears remained from his Wolf, and that made his stare more serious than ever. He shot a quick side glance to the others - engrossed in a conversation about Shogi strategies - before speaking.

"Did you sense it, Chief?" Roy's gaze flicked towards the direction of the bathroom, and Havoc nodded. "Yeah, I reckoned you'd notice something was off."

"Yes, but we're both in Human and it was too fast. Is she Sparking?"

Havoc shook his head, and the last remains of his Wolf disappeared. "No. She entered the Pink."

Roy frowned deeply, crossing his arms, until his eyes lighted up with realization. "Heat?" He mouthed.

"Hey, Momma raised a gentleman, Colonel."

"But I'm in my Human! Even if I were to notice it, it'd be a lot subtler than this. And in all these years I never…"

"Just saying so we both help Becky with whatever excuse she comes up with to cover for Hawkeye." Havoc took a long gulp of his beer. "But like… we, the three of us, have been pack bonded for a few years now, and you know I'm a Middler. But I had never sensed a Pink on any of you before until you got off your blockers and until today, with her. And you say that's your first time consciously noticing it, too."

"Where are you getting at?" Roy looked up again, grabbing his arms a little tighter when a tingle flicked his fingertips.

Havoc stared at him with impassive incredulity for several seconds. He opened his mouth to reply, but flinched when Rebecca's slightly humorless laugh rang across the room.

"So boys, it's been lovely being here with you, but Riza and I had made plans for tonight already, so - we'll be going."

"Aww, that's a shame, ladies. But thank you both for coming, it was fun." Fuery raised a glass in Rebecca's direction, and was followed by similar gestures and murmurs of agreement by other members of the table. That's when Roy noticed that Hawkeye was standing right behind her, with her arms clasped on her back clearly clawing the sleeves of her jacket. 

Hawkeye bowed slightly towards the table, a rigid smile plastered on her face that would make it clear to any slightly sober person she didn't plan to go anywhere but home. Roy felt a sudden fluttering in his upper throat, like butterflies trying to leave his mouth.

"Well, I was planning to leave right now anyway."

Havoc almost let the cigarette on his lips drop to the floor when he heard his superior utter those words and rise to his feet. Roy reached for his wallet. "I can give you two a ride wherever you need to go, or at least close by."

Rebecca clearly wasn't expecting this development, and quickly glanced at her friend for guidance. Hawkeye subsided her surprise much faster, though, and nodded.

"Well then… alright. Thank you, Colonel," trilled Rebecca, feigning relaxation. "See you, Jean; let's meet up at the range next week."

"Sure," Roy felt Havoc's eyes drilling him as the women scrambled for their own wallets. When Roy leaned in to collect Hawkeye's and Rebecca's coats, Havoc practically dove to be head to head with him.

"Chief, what are you _doing_?"

"Helping," Roy said simply. "It's my job to protect my pack." _And especially my Pair_ , he completed in his mind, but didn't say anything. The thought made him uneasy.

"You _can't_! Not like that!" Havoc was nearly screaming in his hisses.

"Don't misjudge me, Lieutenant. I stopped drinking a while ago and sobered up enough to drive."

"That's not what I _mean_ , Colonel." Havoc glanced desperately at Rebecca and Hawkeye, who had noticed their chat and impatiently awaited it to end. Roy took the opportunity to move away from the table and wave goodbyes to his subordinates with a beaming smile. Hawkeye stalked out with quick steps, followed by Rebecca, and Roy could still see Havoc's glower when he strode outside.

Farther from the pub, the temperature dropped noticeably, and friend groups walked close up and down the sidewalk. Some had thrown etiquette away and presented in some of their Wolf, letting the wag of their wormy tails speak for them. A group of adolescents with matching carnations on their lapels heckled one another through their wolf heads with mirth and defiance as the women turned the corner.

Roy stayed a respectful step behind them during the walk towards the parking lot, both for privacy sake and due to Hawkeye's heat aura, though it was faint to his Human senses. He observed Rebecca wrap an arm around Hawkeye's back, and mused for a minute about how she often behaved like a Were despite not being one. The swiftness in which she picked up on her friend's odd behavior and ran to help was an uncanny indicator. Hawkeye was lucky to have pack bonded with her, even though Catalina was unable to fully correspond while being a non-Were.

Roy's fingertips tingled, and he stretched his hands impatiently. _So all that weirdness was Sparking?_ He made quick mental calculations: he'd likely have more than enough time to leave Hawkeye at her apartment and drive to his favorite Changing spot to sprint. Perhaps he could even stop home to put on appropriate civilian clothes and drink some wolfsbane tea to try to shorten the episode. At the moment, though, the only thing he could do was to try to delay the uncomfortable side effects of the start of his involuntary Change.

They soon arrived at the car. Hawkeye clearly struggled to act normally as she climbed into the back seat with Rebecca, who seeded small talk to try and distract her friend. Roy started the engine.

"Am I to leave you both at Hawkeye's?"

"No," Hawkeye declared sternly. "Rebecca stays. She has her own plans for tonight."

"You know I can cancel them to keep you company, Riza." There was familiarity in her words, an affection that guided her hand up and down Hawkeye's back.

"You've been looking forward to this picture show for weeks now." Roy looked in the rear mirror. His Lieutenant's face was flushed, her posture tenser than it had ever been. "Go. I'll be fine."

Rebecca met Roy's gaze through the mirror, evaluating if it was worth leaving her friend in that delicate position with a man - even if said man was a trustworthy pack member of hers. Roy nodded, and she reciprocated the gesture.

"Alright," Rebecca muttered, massaging Hawkeye's shoulder. "Call the club if you need me, for any reason. I'm here to help. And, Colonel," Roy turned his head to see her. "Please make sure she's well."

"I will be, Rebecca." His Lieutenant had that edge in her tongue that made Catalina quiet down, leaning in only to place a goodbye peck on Hawkeye's cheek. Once the door had been slammed shut, Roy put the car into drive.

The soft hum of the engine and the roar of other automobiles on the packed Friday night streets were the only sounds that could be heard inside of Roy's car for many minutes. He courteously didn't look at his subordinate. The memory of how one _devolved_ as the heat progressed was still fresh, and being afflicted among your co-workers was vexing enough. Hell, him being able to faintly, yet consciously, detect her heat pheromones in his Human for being her packmate ( _Pair_ , he unconsciously corrected himself, still reticent to use the term) was enough embarrassment for a lifetime.

Although…

_I had never sensed a Pink on any of you before until you got off your blockers and until today, with her._

His grip on the wheel tightened.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant," Roy started, and he heard a sharp inhale. "I'm afraid a Spark is coming up. I apologize if you sense it. We'll arrive at your place very soon."

Hawkeye replied with a strained sigh, and he thought he heard the back seats creak a little. The Friday traffic was only partially responsible for how time crawled inside the car.

"Lieutenant? Are you alright?"

His instinct immediately told him something was off just as the words escaped his lips. The muscles on his arms and back were stiff, and he kept staring ahead without really seeing the street in front of him.

He could hear her breathing, heavier and heavier.

"Yes."

Something rich and burning like honey slowly descended within Roy's flesh, so sweet it ached. His eyes watered when he felt that slush sink lower in his torso, until began settling between his groin, warm, sugary, so-

A motorcycle swerved dangerously close to their vehicle, and Roy snapped to reality enough to realize he had been slowly turning the wheel off his lane. His hands had been grabbing it so totally they were white, but that didn't stop them from being slick with sweat, like his face.

"No way!" he snarled, releasing himself into a Change in desperation. The risk of an immediate full Wolf Spark wasn't low, and the possibility of forcing Hawkeye into conducting his car in her state while he was an animal was undesirable. But even a Spark was better than the possibility he was envisioning far, far too late.

 _That's not what I_ mean _, Colonel._

Roy was able to move the tip of his almond-shaped ears in a few seconds, huffing to try and force his muzzle out. His light underfur was growing in ripples, spreading like a field of dandelions. He felt the stinging pressure of his lower hip, the tail timidly perking from his bones. He growled in satisfaction, once again emerging victorious from a bind.

And then his Change stopped.

"Damn it!" Roy tried to force it out. He huffed and puffed, moved his ears as high as possible, pulled his short tail until it hurt. Nothing worked.

It _wasn't_ a Spark.

Roy smacked the wheel with a roar, and his palm slid on the leather. It was covered in sweat, just like the rest of his fuzzy body. The face that met his eyes in the mirror was flushed and slightly dazed.

The other face, the one on the back seat, was also fuzzy and with a dark nose, but eerily serene.

"This is as far as I can go, too, sir. I'm sorry - I probably am the one causing you this." Hawkeye's voice was velvety, vibrating within his bones. Roy's pants started feeling tight, and he had to bite back the urge to groan.

"You aren't. Not completely. I'm a fool." Every ounce of self-control Roy had was being directed to not crashing his car, and changing gears in the bustling traffic was taking a toll on him. "I'm on a heat blocker break, like the doctor ordered. I've been… I thought I was in control already after the first ones. I hadn't realized I was that…" His voice trailed off as he turned all attention he could muster to the road again.

"Me neither." Hawkeye panted. "I also had to go into a break, two weeks ago. We should," she swallowed, "begin keeping tabs on that, so we don't coincide again."

Roy ran a hand through his already damp hair. "Agreed."

Traffic still rushed around them, but Roy managed to pick up a draft of fresh air with his ears, from the Western district, the opposite direction of both their apartments. He considered their options. If they decided to turn now, they'd have to round the outskirts of the city to be able to reach the marginal avenue back, and that would take driving for at least thirty minutes. But moving forward in the city center was proving to be too demanding in his state. Sooner or later he would cause an accident, and that would be much, _much_ worse.

Roy flicked the blinker almost at the same time as he began turning the wheel, praying to make it to the entrance to the West side. Hawkeye let out an exclamation as the vehicle did a sharp maneuver into the lateral street, provoking a symphony of claxons.

"Sir?"

"It's going to be faster through the outskirts, with this traffic." He held an euphoric cry back when he was able to shift to third gear.

Hawkeye didn't reply, and they sped ahead down the back streets.

Refreshing night wind whirled from the outside, and they fully rolled down the windows to let it carry some of the suffocating heat scent away from them. The dark streets of the Western district were far from the arterial city routes and their nauseating smoke and burnt oil. For maybe ten minutes, Roy was relieved. He thanked his lucky stars for the empty road when the car veered smoothly to catch the marginal route, whizzing past the sparse light posts on the sides. Perhaps he’d manage to make it to Riza’s building in less than fifteen minutes, if things kept going his way.

( _Hawkeye’s. Hawkeye’s_ building _._ Roy quietly growled to himself. She was still very quiet.) 

Too quiet, perhaps, but he was going too fast to detach his eyes from the road. “Are you holding up alright?”

There was a long pause. “The wind is bringing your scent all the way inside, sir.” The reply came at last in a grave murmur, every word laboriously pronounced-

-because her voice was _thick_. Roy heard it taut with weariness in her brave attempts to preserve her composure. The base of his throat tightened - Riza once again found herself at his mercy while fighting for self-control. Her First Change was spent under his embrace, in his childhood bedroom. Now she was riding in his car in full blown heat, meandering the deserted outskirts of the city on the promise that Roy would take her home safe.

And he _would_ , of course. No other option had even crossed his mind. Riza placed herself in his hands just like Roy offered her his back.

 _Hawkeye_. Not Riza. He huffed, rolling the window handle with violence. That was their tacit understanding. That was what they didn't have to talk about. That's how she could trust Roy Mustang even as he was back to sweating like a sinner, with his crotch feeling way too sensitive again.

There was an audible exhale, and Roy wondered if Hawkeye was maybe trying to hold her breath for as long as possible with the window down.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I'm sorry again."

"I'm the one who needs to apologize," Roy replied, a little harshly. "I should've predicted that, in my current state, I'd get sensitive to your heats." The absurdism of the situation finally caught up with him, and he let out a throaty laugh. "And to think the only one who noticed we were off-blockers was that mutt we call packmate, Havoc."

"Oh… yes,” Hawkeye sounded more in control, although a little dazed still. “I can see how he could have stirred your heat, so I - Colonel, _careful!_ ”

Roy looked ahead and brusquely turned the wheel to dodge a stray crossing the road, somehow managing to recover control and swerve back on the nick of time. The car stopped with a screech at an oblique angle on the roadside, the darkness broken only by the defective lights of a diner some one hundred meters ahead. The smell of burnt rubber invaded the interior of the car through Hawkeye’s open window, and only the insistent knock-knock of the blinkers and the faint buzzing yellow light above Roy disturbed the tense silence that had settled over them.

“Colonel, didn’t you _see_ \--”

“Hawkeye,” Roy snapped, fussing with his belt to be able to turn his torso to finally look at his Lieutenant. She had Changed back to her full Human, like himself, and not even the paleness from the near-accident could hide her pink cheeks. Her hairdo was half undone from sticking her face on the open window and it didn’t look like she had moved from the farthest corner from him ever since entering the car.

Hawkeye’s eyes were dark and huge and Roy felt a hook on his navel when he met them.

“ _Havoc?_ ”

Hawkeye blinked, scrunching her face in confusion. “You had a heat before, didn’t you? One Havoc...”

“Havoc didn't set it off,” Roy nearly squealed. “He never - He sensed them because his blockers are milder, but he never _contributed_ to causing me one.”

“Oh.” Hawkeye distanced herself a bit from her nook, color returning to her face very quickly, like his probably was, too.

Roy squinted, trying to ignore her aura as the adrenaline was returning to normal. “Did he help set yours off just today?”

That was completely inappropriate, but the pounding of his heart drowned his reservations. Blasted be heats, blasted be the doctor, blasted be Havoc, because all he wanted was to listen to one answer. 

“No."

There were many things in life that required Roy’s understanding. Alchemy was an infinity of switching pieces, processes and variables. Only decades of knowledge strung his alchemical practice into destruction and reconstruction. Similarly with the waltz of favors of the military, the strategies written in blood, the ebb and flow of his Were nature.

But the ones that eluded him - those he scurried from, or stomped upon, or pushed forward with ten long non-stop years of contraceptive shots. They could wait, they could be ignored, they-

They could be staring at him right now, flushed and with parted lips, inching towards the edge of the seat like a prowling cat. They could have a gleam in the eye he had seen before, but only in stolen glances and very rarely, such that he thought it had been a mirage. They could be hesitant, fully conscious of the risks and the cost, and still, _still_ -

Still waiting for his move. So Roy leaned over his seat, and Riza met him halfway.

Roy’s brief enlightenment was snuffed out by her sigh, and he let his shoulders relax. Only being in the Wolf together could compare to the touch of her lips against his, slowly learning something entirely new about the other. 

Roy panted when his throat pressed uncomfortably against the top of the seat, and he broke the kiss. The tiny internal lamp made Riza's pupils seem even wider than they could conceivably be.

"I… I will still take you home." Roy rasped. "If you want me to."

Riza gulped audibly. "We were seen leaving together in the pub. You mustn't be seen entering my apartment the same night."

"No, I mean- I mean drop you off. And go home." His voice lowered to disguise an improper reaction to her train of thought.

“Oh.”

From the corner of his eye Roy watched Riza's chest rise and fall in irregular intervals, but she kept his gaze locked on hers. Disgracefully, his Lieutenant wasn't one to give in to bashfulness, either.

“...I can’t be seen leaving your apartment, either.” Riza huffed, and Roy felt a shiver spreading from his chest at her evident frustration.

“Excuse me?” _Did she really...?_

Riza finally shut her eyes in a frown and turned her head to the side, blushing intensely. “I said I can’t be seen leaving your apartment, either, should I _not_ want you to drop me off and leave.”

In spite of the return of the aches straining his muscles and of the knowledge the situation might not benefit from it, Roy barked a mischievous laugh. Riza whipped her head up, bemused.

"Well, Lieutenant, you caught me off-guard." He grinned his best grin, wild and wolfish in the only way he could do out of a Change, and sharpened his stare with intent.

"I have your back, sir. It comes with the position." Riza's tone was suddenly back to her everyday calm, but the half-lidded gaze she returned said more than Roy had ever dared to dream before.

Roy turned to look out of the window, bonking his chin on the glass as he pushed his head out. He squinted, trying to make out the neon sign of the diner ahead. When he pulled his head in and settled back on his seat, he was grinning wider than ever.

"I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the respectable joint ahead of us has rooms to rent per hour." Roy casually informed as he started the car, his excitement competing with the actual stiffening flesh of his lower back.

He heard a tiny scoff, but Riza's voice was a little more than a murmur when she finally spoke. "Put on your coat." She paused. "Sir."

Roy clenched his teeth until they hurt. He needed to keep enough attention on the dark road as his pants got impossibly tight between his legs, again. He was suddenly aware of her presence in the car, and now close, so close, on his own lips.

"Save the teasing for later," Roy growled, grabbing his coat from beside him and tossing over his torso the best he could manage. He could hear her doing the same behind him, but he would be lost if he looked at that languid expression again at that moment.

The diner had neon signs falling in places, announcing cheap meals and room rentals for varied extensions of time. A lonely streetlamp shone right above a nondescript car entrance beside the restaurant. Roy cautiously maneuvered the car in front of the grated gate, and a shuffling sound came from the dimly illuminated cabin beside it.

"Good evening," greeted Roy to the slit on the cabin's shaded window, trying to stay out of the range of the streetlamp.

He received a grunt as a reply, followed by a jaded, gruff feminine voice. "Six thousand cenz for the hour, twenty thousand four hours. We have extra towels, extra sheets, and extra condoms, for a fee. Room service is an extra thousand cenz."

“Right.” Roy was already reaching for his wallet before the voice quieted. He quickly fished a bill in the darkness of his car, and noticed it was his only fifty thousand bill when he brought it into the muted light. A strong stench of tobacco came from the slit, making his eyes begin watering and a cramp churn his abdomen. Roy stretched to slide the bill inside the slit. “This should cover it all.”

After a few seconds, the gate opened with a metallic clank, and a key chained to a wooden tag with a “5” on it was slid back. Roy mumbled a “thank you” and rode inside. Dim incandescent lamps lit each a small parking area, with a numbered door leading inside a completely obscured building. The yellowish lined garages seemed to grow from the darkness itself.

Riza was breathing heavily, and Roy couldn’t place if more from the discomfort of the heat pains, or from apprehension. He had been to a motel before, but it was a discreet and well-decorated little building in the heart of Central City, with heated water and perfumed pillowcases. A place for a little _rendezvous_ , some harmless and lush adventure. The establishment they found themselves in, dark and hidden from the city lights, was for actual secrets.

Roy parked the car in the garage with the “5” door, and Riza didn’t wait for him to open the door for her. She jumped out and stalked towards the door, rocking to and fro with her arms crossed and legs very tight against each other. Roy noticed Riza looked intently at the handle, ignoring his presence.

A thrill of stiffening muscles ran up his sides. Roy bit his lip to stifle his own arousal. “Calm down, Lieutenant,” he snickered, approaching with the key ready to unlock the door.

It took the second needed to insert and turn the key for Roy’s senses to register Riza’s now overwhelming aura whirling around him, sneaking under his skin in all possible ways. He felt his entire body burn.

Roy poised a hand on the small of her back, but Riza immediately lunged for the handle and barged inside, hissing for him to follow when he stood back, stunned. He obliged, nearly forgetting to turn and lock the door behind them.

When Roy turned around, Riza had already flicked the switch on, and the bedroom was bathed in a soft half-light from multicolored lamps tucked around the edges of the floor and ceiling. It was small, with one worn nightstand on each side of the old-looking queen-sized bed, both lined with bottles of water, snacks, and condoms. The floor was completely tiled, and it shone in the faint illumination. Riza had walked ahead and found the small bathroom, which even seemed to have a bathtub.

She turned the bathroom lamp on, which was much stronger than the scenic lights of the bedroom, and let it shine over the bed. Roy immediately realized she was trying to figure out the state of the sheets and towels on top of it - but they seemed surprisingly clean.

"Sparkling drains." Roy barely heard Riza's comment as she stepped back down to the bedroom area. She briefly looked up, freezing for an instant, but quickly shook her head and continued. "This place is old, but well-cared for."

"It better be, for the price it was." Roy mumbled with feigned irritation, still standing by the door as if he wasn't allowed to move - or rather, trying to control the subtle twitching of his entire body in pain and anticipation. Riza pretended not to hear him, but it didn’t matter. His only focus was on her brisk steps when she walked towards the coat hanger, ostensibly turned away from Roy. 

Riza took her coat off and hanged it, with patent impatience in every gesture. Roy watched, enraptured, as she did the same with her blue jacket, the skirt of the uniform, and her belt.

Riza finally turned to face him, and even in the gloom her eyes twinkled when meeting his. As if a spell had been broken, Roy strode across the room without any hesitation. There was only one logical, sensible solution to soothe their agony, now they were there.

There were no seats between them keeping their bodies apart anymore, and Roy only realized how roughly he had kissed her when she stumbled backwards, hitting her back on the wall.

“Sorry,” Roy breathlessly mumbled against her lips, but Riza simply placed her hand on his nape and pulled him closer. Despite that, she hadn't allowed the kiss to deepen, and he tried to quell his eagerness by moving his hands to her waist and caressing her sides. Riza’s other hand grasped the collar of his jacket, but through the haze of mutual passion he noticed she was using it to tug his upper body away from touching hers.

Riza greeted him with a genuinely surprised expression when Roy forced himself away from her, but her shoulders were already bunched up with tension. “Is there anything wrong, sir?

“Are you alright?” He knew the answer. Even in his Human, even with libido rushing through his body so intensely it physically hurt, he could nearly identify the scent of her uneasiness. Out of his Wolf, as a normal human being, he almost never felt that, not even around his packmates. _But she’s a Pair_. His brain rebutted. _And an old friend. And you’re both making out in a roadside motel, in heat._

Riza turned her head down, shutting her eyes. She was too acquainted with their reality to even try to disguise it. Her right hand was still digging into Roy’s collar. She swallowed, and Roy worked on steadying his own breathing to help her wind down. 

“Yes,” she finally stuttered, clearing her throat in sequence and continuing in a much firmer tone. “But I think I need a moment.”

"All right." Roy shifted his weight to put some distance between them, but Riza clenched the grip on his jacket even harder.

"With you."

"Pardon?"

"I need a moment with you." Riza gathered enough composure to raise her head to face him again, despite being red as a beet. "Quietly."

Somewhere in Roy's mind, memories crinkled like leaves at that. Her fingers playing with his coat's lapel after the undertaker took Master away. A broken whine requesting him to stay during her First Change. The shared silence in his car when the war flooded back in her present.

"Of course." Roy gently whispered, and lifted his hands to her upper arms, massaging the stiff muscles underneath her skin. Riza's left hand had found his shoulder when he pulled away, and its grip was less vicious, so Roy found himself free to run his palms up to her triceps, to her trapezes, back down the biceps, and pressing a thumb in the inside of her elbows.

The tension gradually subsided from both her shoulders and the fingers around his collar. Riza had closed his eyes when Roy's hands left her waist, and she let out small contented sighs from his dedicated touch.

When she finally let go and dropped her arms to her sides, Roy allowed his hands to slide down to hers, squeezing and releasing her fingers. "How are you now?"

Riza moved her head affirmatively before making a sound. "Better." She paused. "But before we continue, there's something I need to know."

"Anything." The cramps were creeping up his back again. Roy hadn't even realized how much they had subsided during that pause.

Her gaze danced on his jacket, and up his neck and chin, but never reached Roy's face proper. He waited, pressing Riza's fingertips with his, one by one.

"What happens after all this?" Her voice was but a wisp, and Roy recognized it from other intimate moments they had shared. Despite the ridiculous choices they were making, and perhaps because of them, everything then was as precious as all those times.

Roy placed a soft kiss on Riza's temple. "We can talk about it some other time." He moved to nuzzle her fringe away from her eyes. "Someday, perhaps."

Riza chuckled through her nose, and Roy smiled against her forehead. They had been together for a long time, alright. This was just another thing they were choosing to share, as a pack, as Pairs, as _friends_ , as--

"Sounds acceptable." And with that, Riza raised her head to look into his eyes, and Roy nearly drowned in hers. The kiss that followed was formed by their smiles.

It didn't take long for their lips to move in other, warmer, ways. Riza placed her hands just where they had been before, but this time she worked on pulling his collar towards her. Roy settled his hands back on her waist, his fingers strumming her lean curves up and down. The intensity of earlier was good on its own, but Roy felt he could simmer in the steady rising of their closeness for hours and be almost satisfied.

Almost.

His hands snaked to her lower back and her hips, and Riza's breath hitched, obediently parting her lips in response. Roy felt her smiling again as he ran his tongue down her inner lower lip, and the chills that threatened to overpower him had nothing to do with his screaming heat.

Riza began tugging his coat off, and Roy grudgingly let himself be pushed away so she could disrobe him and hang the same garments she had taken off from herself. Once Roy felt her hand on his waist he advanced again, embracing and kissing Riza with renewed energy. He leaned on her hand cupping his face, while the other caressed his back, perhaps a little too energetically. His knots of tension relaxed under Riza’s touch, and a relieved yelp escaped his throat.

The smile was back, and Roy knew it because Riza’s tongue slipped away and he had to nip on her lower lip to catch her full attention again. But a small rumble in her chest warned him that victory was short-lived.

“What?” Roy breathed as Riza threw her head back to laugh in complete delight.

“That was cute, sir.” She answered after a moment of trying to contain herself, despite her cheeks being bright with mirth. “You sounded as if you were in your Wolf.”

“Kissing a slobbering dog would be problematic, don’t you think?” Roy huffed, indignant, undoing the buttons of his shirt to disguise his embarrassment.

“I should thank my lucky stars we can’t Spark now, then.” Her voice trailed off a little, distracted by Roy stripping his white shirt and deliberately stretching his well-defined arm very close to Riza’s face when hanging it over his jacket.

He smirked, grazing the knots of his fingers very lightly across Riza’s cheek. “You offend me, Lieutenant. I’m an imposing form no matter in which Change state.”

Riza let her gaze glide back to his chest, and Roy’s smirk grew wider at her debauched indolence, despite her blush being so intense it spread down her neck. “I can see that.”

“Oh. See what, again?” Roy lifted his eyebrows, innocently.

“Mm?” Riza met his eyes and mirrored his expression for a second before her eyelids flew open in a confused frown. “Wait- what did you just say?”

It was Roy’s time to laugh, hoarsely and carefree, while Riza covered her face and let out a deep, dramatic sigh. Roy gently pushed her hands away and placed a long kiss on her cheek, then another, then a trail of kisses on her jaw, then one between the curve of the bone and her neck, and soon he knew Riza had again forgotten what they were talking about between the chills rising on her skin. Roy’s hands played with her stomach, and delicately began peeling her black shirt up with his fingertips.

She raised her arms, offering no resistance even when Roy purposefully skimmed underneath her bra during the task. He repeated the impromptu ritual of hanging the garment before cupping Riza’s cheek and going back to kissing. One of his hands slid to her lower back while the other firmly sustained Riza’s head, as his lips demanded her with galloping intensity. Roy felt the hunger pains creeping up in his insides, and he _needed_ her, the softness of her mouth and the curve of her hips. When Riza backed out to fully rest her back on the wall again, Roy nibbled her tongue with his upper front teeth, slithering his hand down over the back of her pants.

Her torso jerked forward in an arc when Roy closed his hand around her, and suddenly the silky fabric of her bra pressed against his chest. He shivered, trailing open-mouthed kisses along her shoulders, and pulling the straps of her bra down her arm with his teeth. Riza gasped at the slightest touch, and Roy played with her for a while, shifting movements only to see how she would react.

"You-" Riza hissed, and Roy felt her strong hands pushing him backwards. He could almost protest before she forced her palms further, making him step back until he tripped on the bed. They tumbled together on the mattress with another yelp from Roy, who got immediately still as Riza scrambled to straddle him, kicking her boots off.

She shot him a small crooked smirk Roy knew from their youth, and huffed. "Cute." 

Roy growled with pointed canines. Riza reached for her clip, letting her hair cascade down her naked shoulders. Roy noticed her almond ears peeking out, and a tingle spreading up his own let him know he was Changing in tandem.

"Don't Change," Riza ordered. "Don't go beyond there. You'll get fuzz." She leaned over his torso, and hair strands slid to touch his chest. Riza locked eyes with Roy, who was incredibly aware of her angle, and he felt his abdominal muscles clenching at her mischief. "I don't want you to lose sensitivity, covered in fur."

Her thighs tightened around Roy's hips, and he had to close his eyes, grunting, to regain some control. "Not into the slobbering dog, then," he managed to snark.

"I'm fine with early Changes in bed," Riza declared, sliding her hands over Roy's torso as she calmly sat back straight. "Just not this time."

"This time!" Roy repeated in an amused shriek, turning his head towards the wall. "I never said we're getting a 'next' time, Hawkeye."

Riza settled her hands on his navel, humming as she pressed them down, and took her time moving them to the sides of his abdomen and up his chest. "You don't have to, sir."

"Oh, really? Why?" Roy challenged after a long pause. He was aware that she was teasing him into a trap, but trying to focus on controlling his Change just right not to grow and thicken fuzz.

The jolt that followed nearly made Roy sit up in alarm, stars exploding in his sight. Riza had ground her crotch against his, stimulating his hardening cock with beyond reasonable force.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry." Riza froze, her eyes going immediately wide. Her hands hovered helplessly, and she immediately hoisted herself on her knees so as to not touch him. Roy quickly steadied his hands on the top of her thighs, focusing on the thick fabric to control his ragged breathing.

"Just- just dial down on the roughness." Roy gasped, arduously trying to relax the grip on her legs. Riza supported herself on his wrists while he recovered his composure.

"I'm sorry. I'll-"

"Don't." Roy scratched her pants in a twitch, and Riza stopped trying to dismount. Roy's nails had grown darker and sharper, and his arm was fuzzed - the shock had popped him back into the Change, and he went as far as the heat had allowed him to. "Come here."

His hands slid to her hips, holding Riza firmly in place as she leaned forward to meet his mouth. Roy sniffed more than saw she had Changed too, perhaps from the surprise, or - like they often did - in an unconscious reaction to his early Change. Roy dragged his nails over to her lower back and up to the sides of her chest, gently pushing her torso against his. Riza obliged, settling on top of him, and making adjustments when Roy arched his chest to squeeze against her breasts. 

They took the time to pick up their rhythm again, slowly relaxing back into their Human. Riza slowly ran her fingers through his hair, as if that was her only objective in life, and Roy returned the caress with equal affection. He let his fingertips dance on her shoulders and her sides at times, creating silly patterns he couldn't keep track of.

In his daze, Roy accidentally brushed a scarred patch of skin, and recoiled his hand. Riza separated from him only the few millimeters necessary to speak intelligibly before sinking back into the kiss.

"It's alright." 

The burns felt bigger than Roy remembered beneath his palms. He considered that perceiving them with his touch for the first time, and no visual input, could be altering his notion of the extent of the burns. But those thoughts faded as Riza grasped a bunch of his hair and firmly pulled it to better bite his lip, and he was sure she had noticed him getting distracted for the wrong reasons. So he doubled his efforts, drawing wispy moans from Riza as his hands lovingly stroked every inch of her back. He pressed his knuckles down her vertebrae, massaged the lumbar region particularly well (heats caused pain particularly there), and skidded his fingertips above and beneath her bra until Riza caved in and sat up, reaching for its clasp.

As a consequence of both their companionship and their Wereness, Riza and Roy had their own practice of modesty. Undressing in the same environment to give in to a Change was something that most packmates have done, mostly only turning their backs to one another to preserve their decency - sometimes, not even that. Roy had seen his Lieutenant naked several times since her First Change, - albeit normally already covered in thick fur - or in her undergarments after a night of running together in the Wolf. That wasn’t precisely new.

But that context _absolutely_ was. Roy couldn’t help his body reacting as he watched Riza shamelessly mounted on his hips in the half-light of the room, taking her bra off and tossing it out of sight. Riza hoistered herself on her knees again to delicately readjust before finally facing Roy - flustered when she dropped her trembling hands to the buttons of his pants after he nodded his permission.

The request for gentleness had been well-regarded, it seemed. Riza pulled off all the fabric covering Roy in slow movements down to his thighs, and leisurely ghosted her hands all the way down his stomach and all over his crotch. She kept going forward, caressing the sensitive skin of Roy’s groin, and further still. Her eyes remained locked in her work, curiosity drawn in her features.

“Your ears are out again,” Roy managed to huff through a cocky smile. Riza whipped her face towards him. “Like what you got?”

A new splash of red spread all the way down her ( _God, she’s so beautiful_ ) breasts, and Riza frowned, twitching an eyebrow. “You’re undeserving of an answer right now.”

“You’re so mean. That’s something within my interests.” Roy tried to bite his lower lip, but it was too sensitive still. That didn’t escape Riza’s attention, and she snickered.

“Such entitlement, sir.” Her hand slowly ran up his length, and Roy swallowed hard, closing his eyes. He allowed desire to pulse through his veins at each of her movements, peeking oly to admire Riza every now and again, sighing. 

A few minutes later he considered that perhaps she had paid _too much_ regard to his earlier request. They had dropped to a morose rhythm, and his lower back was again assaulted by aches. He had to change the position and revv things up a little bit, perhaps.

Roy propped himself up with his elbows, and pulled a bunch of pillows between himself and the bed frame. Riza left his lap, intrigued, until he stretched his arms for her to get back on. She regarded him for a second, nodded and scooted to the edge of the bed.

“But--”

“Shh,” Riza snapped, fumbling with her own pants and kicking them off in the general direction of the hanger with a haste that wasn’t around a minute earlier. She crawled back to Roy in her underwear and reached for his clothes, and he allowed her to strip him naked before she cautiously plopped back on his lap again.

Riza was still blushing, but she calmly stared at him for a long time in complete stillness, as she would normally do while waiting for a request during workdays. Roy was a little dumbfounded by that sudden nonchalance when she had been wanton not long ago, and sensed that was a defense mechanism.

“Sir?” That was the casual inquiry tone of office work, and Roy’s gut turned, repulsed at the reminder that he was currently having sex with his subordinate. _No, she’s herself._ He backtracked. _Much more than any title, any rank._

“Come here,” Roy commanded, rougher than he had intended. “Come here,” he repeated, softer.

Riza blinked, her face inescrutable, before reclining towards Roy. He met her halfway with a kiss, bending his legs to offer her support and coaxing her to saddle higher on his stomach. 

Roy made the kiss slow and soft, and Riza followed his cue, relaxing at the touch. His hands drifted over her arms, massaging them from the hollow of her elbows up to her shoulders, and down again.

“Are you okay?” He pulled back a little to look deep into her eyes, but his breath was as genuine as his words.

Riza’s eyes darted away for a few moments before she sought out his lips again. "Cramps." She mumbled in frank embarrassment.

He responded in kind, squeezing her arms up to her shoulders and down her back, and up again to her stomach, caressing her until he heard relief in her moans. Then he trailed his fingers upwards until he found the curve of her chest. Roy brushed the sides of his thumbs on the supple skin, and Riza shivered, throwing her arms around his shoulders with a muffled groan against the crook of his neck. So he advanced, delineating the shape of her breasts with his fingertips before lovingly cupping them.

“Do you want me to take care of you?” Roy already wanted to, in any case, if Riza let him. But he suspected she might be reluctant. He nuzzled her hair, and kissed her temple again. “I would like to, if you do.”

Riza made a muffled sound that could be a sob or a laugh, and Roy continued with his caresses. Her breasts were too large to fit properly on his hands, and their weight made them sag, malleable, as he slowly kneaded and played with them. Riza’s thighs pressed against him, and she began rocking her hips in the rhythm of his touches.

“Turn on your back.” Roy lightly tugged her to the side, but Riza pressed a knee on the mattress to stop the movement, grumbling something in unmistakeable grumpiness. Roy’s brows knitted together. 

“What’s wrong?"

The reply came in the form or her hand pointing upwards. Roy followed the direction, and his mouth hung open from the discovery.

“How come I didn’t see _that_?" he mumbled, fascinated.

"I guess you were distracted, sir." Riza's low reply tickled his skin.

"Then I must be a terrible soldier, for missing _that_."

Above the bed, bolted to the ceiling, there was a large rectangular mirror. Roy's dismayed face looked back at him, with his wolfish ears and dark nose pointing out in his surprise, alongside with over half the bed beneath them.

"Again." Riza took Roy's hand, which had gone back to her waist, and squeezed the open palm against her breast. Roy bit back a gasp. "Distracted. I can't be on my back, if I have to look at my own face. I’d feel too self-conscious."

"That's fair," Roy relented, even though his tone seemed more sad than sympathetic. Riza narrowed her eyes at him, but Roy’s face suddenly lit up. "Wait. No. You can lay with your head to the feet of the bed."

The glare Riza returned was somewhere between clarity from realizing something obvious, and annoyance from being suggested something ludicrous, but she didn't make any comments. Roy took it as consent, moving so she left his lap again. He threw a pillow to the feet of the bed, and Riza adjusted her head on it, still frowning.

With a last longing look to the mirror, Roy crawled to her side, caging her between his arms and leaning down for a kiss. Riza laced her fingers on his hair, bringing her knees to her chest for a moment. She hesitantly lowered them back on the bed as their caresses grew more ardent, and soon her back was arching as a result of Roy's hands resuming his work on her chest.

Riza pushed his head downwards, and Roy groaned with pure lust. He skimmed his teeth down her neck until sinking them in a light nip at the base of her throat, and Riza gasped in delight. Roy moved his bites and kisses around on the skin between her neck and shoulder, and then back down towards her sternum, nuzzling the valley of her breasts.

He placed one single kiss there, and raised his head to admire the effects of his efforts. Riza was so gone she didn't even react to his sleazy grin - perhaps because Roy was as flushed and breathless as her, and his eyes were likely just as blurred.

"Please continue," Riza shyly squeaked, as if she was requesting a favor. Roy replied with a scorching kiss close to her shoulder before moving back to her arching chest, consumed by hunger.

It was regrettable there were no side mirrors in that room instead of a ceiling one, because Roy would've given anything to watch Riza's face in full as she squirmed and squealed at that moment. But he already had so much to take in: The softness of her flesh under his teeth and lips and tongue, the surprising sensitivity of her nipples, the intoxicating scent of sweat that Roy was so certain and willing it was going to burrow under his own skin and stay there forever.

Riza's hands were restless - grabbing his hair, cradling his cheeks, scratching his arms or gripping the covers, until one darted in between her legs. Roy, who had been groping her bottom all the while, pushed it away. He raised his head just enough to see Riza peeking out from beneath her forearm, panting.

"Let me," Roy half-pleaded, half-demanded, his voice dark and his hand on the elastic band of her underwear. Riza nodded with a thrumming laugh, stretching and lifting her hips for him to slide the piece of clothing away and place a pillow underneath. She spread her legs soon after, and Roy felt his body so physically in need of hers, every part of him ached. 

Roy covered her stomach with sloppy kisses, moving down to her thighs with some impatience. He had dreamed of those thighs for so long, so sure he would never have the chance to touch them, that now he would make that chance worth all his desire. 

So he started out with a kiss behind her knee, and then the other, and began fondling her up and down with no haste. Roy trailed bites on the smooth flesh of her inner thigh and paid attention to her breathing picking up. He took time to watch his marks fade and her skin flush with anticipation when he squeezed somewhere sensitive. And when Riza couldn’t take it anymore, tugging his hair until it hurt, Roy moved to her crotch.

He felt, more than heard, Riza ordering near incoherent instructions. And Roy was elated to follow - obediently, diligently, using her whimpered demands as a guide for his lips and tongue and, later, fingers, and making sure to make her forget all about the heat pains, the impulses, her rank, her own name if possible. Riza was covering her mouth with a pillow, he could tell, but he could also tell every one of her cries apart as she erratically grinded against his mouth.

He cleaned his hand on the covers while still lazily kissing her, relishing on the joy of being nestled between her thighs, when her breathing began returning to normal. Riza tugged his head up, and Roy was met with a passionate, shivering kiss.

"Good?" He smiled.

Riza nodded, melting against the crook of his neck. "Good."

They tumbled together on the bed entangled in each other, pulling the covers down, and cuddled for a long time. Roy covered Riza with adoring kisses, playfully biting wherever her flesh was softer, and receiving quiet giggles and smacks for it. Riza returned his affection more timidly, but earnestly, until she sat up with a satisfied expression in her face.

"I was thinking," she started, her voice nearly slurring in her relaxation. "We're both in our Were heats, right?"

"Right." Roy stretched, sitting beside her.

"Then, despite our current… choices, I think we should try to avoid taking unnecessary risks whenever possible."

Roy glanced up at her, suddenly serious. With everything, he had forgotten about the outstanding fertility that came with heat. He nodded. "You're right."

"We can leave it for next time." Riza crawled towards one of the nightstands and reached for an untouched bottle of mineral water, trying to check the expiration date on the label on the near darkness of the room.

Roy rested his chin on his hand, grinning. "So you plan on sleeping with me again, without the necessity of soothing the discomfort of a heat? _Scandalous_ , Lieutenant."

She gulped down the water, unfazed. "From the sounds we both made while you 'took care' of me, sir, I just deduced it to be an experience you'd like to repeat some other time. Am I mistaken?"

There was a hint of insecurity in the last sentence, and Roy turned to kiss her shoulder. "When are you ever?"

It was too late for Riza to try and disguise her contentment, and she smiled in response while offering him the water bottle. Roy gladly accepted, gulping it with energy before setting it on the floor by the bed. He found Riza watching him with the same quizzical expression as when she had been touching him before.

"Ready to give me that answer from earlier?" Roy smirked, stretching his arms above his head as sordidly as he possibly could.

Riza didn't reply. Instead, her eyes lingered all over him, drinking his shapes in with evident desire. Roy knew how blunt his Lieutenant was, but that didn't help with refraining the blush from spreading through his face and chest. Her gaze was just relentless.

"Remind me of the subject of the question," Riza purred at last. "Sir."

Roy felt a tingle in his lower abdomen that mingled with the pressure of his strained muscles _so good_. 

"Granted." He growled through a grin, and motioned for Riza to throw him another pillow. "Please keep your might in check, but no need to be so gentle like before."

"Guide me if necessary." Riza bounced to her neutral tone as she shifted towards him after grabbing the pillow, and by that point Roy knew what that meant. 

He cradled Riza's face with his hands, kissing her lips with all the kindness he could muster. She returned the kiss briefly before pulling back and questioning him with a frown.

“Alright,” Roy crooned, nuzzling his nose with hers.

Riza stared at him for a few moments before turning away, but Roy did notice a smile on her face as she did so. When Roy adjusted to be comfortable enough (the pillows, it turned out, were not of great quality), he motioned for Riza to come closer, and she did - straddling him again, and flying immediately to nip the base of his neck.

“You don’t waste time,” Roy gasped, chuckling.

Riza pulled back at once. “Too much?”

He grinned wider in response, and she returned to her task, tracing the muscles of his neck with her teeth and kissing down towards his chest. Despite her eagerness, Riza massaged his torso and arms thoroughly. She scraped him lightly, pinching the thin skin in the inner part of Roy's arms, on his ribs, down his navel. He sighed, content. 

When Riza nipped the upper part of his throat, Roy simply couldn't help but to let out an aroused snicker, sliding his arm on hers.

"Shh," Riza snarled.

Roy took her arm and kissed the inner part of her wrist, grazing his teeth in sequence. "You want me quiet, Lieutenant?"

"Not quiet. _Behaved_."

Roy hummed, taking her other wrist. "What a concept."

"That won't do, sir."

"And what are you going to do?" Roy smirked as he peppered her palm with kisses.

Riza raised her eyebrows, her eyelids falling into a dangerously unimpressed expression. In a quick movement, she twirled her arms and grabbed Roy's forearms, firmly positioning her knees and feet on the bed before dragging his body in an arc like a clock hand.

A choked yelp came from Roy's throat as he tried to get free from her hold, but Riza pinned him against the mattress, falling on his lap again. Roy raised his face to Riza, bewildered, to find a rare mischievous smile in her early Changed features.

"I don't think you should stop ever making that little sound in your Human, sir," she huffed, releasing Roy's arms to shove him by the shoulders. "In fact," her hips rolled on his, and Roy gasped at their full contact. "I hope to hear it again soon."

Roy was still confused by the sudden maneuver, but welcomed Riza's tender kiss without a word. When they were separated, however, he opened his eyes and understood what she had done.

His own face stared back at him, dawning shock on his fuzzy features.

"You seemed disappointed we didn't take advantage of the ceiling mirror earlier," Riza giggled like a schoolgirl who had skipped curfew, something Roy hadn't heard perhaps ever.

"That was not what I had in mind," Roy finally found his voice in a meek rasp.

Riza shrugged. "That should keep you from interrupting my tasks, sir." She approached to trail kisses along his neck, deliberately pressing her chest against his, and Roy watched his own eyes begin to glaze over.

"Yeah," he sighed, barely conscious of his own voice when Riza rocked her hips again. "Okay."

With that, Riza resumed her touch, kneading and fondling Roy with firm care down to their full Human again. He regretted interrupting her at first, because now his eyes couldn't zero in the ceiling anymore without meeting his own debauched expression. And the problem was - he realized, flustered - that it made him even more aroused. Roy found himself squirming under Riza's palms, impatiently.

Roy's hand trembled towards her cheek, turning her face towards him. Riza bit her lip, and shuffled downwards, kissing down his stomach and lightly touching his loins. Roy groaned.

"Yes, that's - that's good," he murmured, brushing a strand of Riza's hair behind her ear as she nuzzled him, placing small kisses here and there.

"Reach at four o'clock," she asked.

"What?"

Riza didn't repeat herself, instead reaching up and taking an object forgotten between the sheets. Roy only realized what it was when she pulled her hair up in her usual bun and heard the click of the clip. Riza straightened up and preened a little when she noticed how Roy ate her with his eyes, but it didn't take long before she guided his hand back to the side of her face and returned to between his legs.

Roy looked up, and saw her head begin moving just as he felt her tongue along his length. And with that, he began a helpless drift towards simply feeling.

It took Riza a few attempts to find a good rhythm and strength, but Roy quickly discovered he was unable to speak coherently to give her pointers. He could only grip and move the side of Riza's head, gasping monosyllabic pleas. His eyes darted from her head going up and down, completely focused on pleasing him, to his own figure twitching in growing heat.

Watching her take him like that was the filthiest thing Roy had ever experienced, in the best possible sense of the word. He held himself together for as long as he could, relishing in attentions he had never dreamed of actually receiving. He couldn't help but to let out a desperate yip when Riza locked eyes with him, her expression pooling with raw hunger. She rewarded him with a flick of her tongue that nearly sent him over the edge.

But Roy was simply lost not much later, almost unable to recognize the wanton in the mirror, whimpering warnings in between uncontrollable moans when Riza didn't appear to slow down. She caressed him lovingly after he came, whispering sweet nothings Roy couldn't understand. He tugged her upwards, instead, and they cuddled until his breathing returned to a more normal rate.

"Good?" Riza's voice was caring, genuine, and Roy thought for a second he could cry.

"Good." He was still trembling, his mind scattered and trying to ground itself by remembering he was still with _her_ , she was there, his… "My Pair. I--"

A gelid chill ran down Roy's spine at the realization of his words, many seconds later. He saw his own regret by dodging his eyes upwards in a desperate attempt to escape, and covered his face with his forearm, groaning in misery.

But Riza kissed him on the jaw, snuggling closer to his form and inhaling deeply against his neck, taking his scent in. 

"Pair," she echoed, scraping circles on his chest until they both fell asleep.

* * *

Roy left Riza at her building before daybreak, their pains eased and their hearts full. The last kiss they shared that night tasted like every other, and for that Roy was grateful. It was devoid of any longing, or regrets, or even promises. Once again they were just themselves, just like in the dawns after running around in their Wolf. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Until next time," Roy had managed to murmur, drawing a tiny laughter from Riza that made his heart flutter.

"Until next time," she replied with a loving peck on the corner of his eye before turning away to leave.

When they spoke again, in the headquarters on Monday morning, both were fresh and content and playing within their roles. Havoc glowered suspiciously from one to the other, but Roy lied with ease when inquired about what had happened after they left the pub. Rebecca had separated from them at the parking lot, he said, and he drove Riza to her apartment safe and sound right afterwards. Nothing more, nothing less.

The next time Roy called his pack for a coordinated race at the park, he couldn't help but to place a small kiss on the side of Hawkeye's nose before dropping her off at her building. Havoc, who was half-asleep in the back seat, watched it without saying a word.

"Do you want a goodbye kiss, too?" Roy mocked him while opening the back door for Havoc to slug outside.

"Screw you, Colonel," was the exhausted reply.

No breakthrough heats surprised Roy until the end of his six months blocker break, and he hurried to get checked and injected first thing on the set date.

A month after that, as they left work, he asked Lieutenant Hawkeye out for an impromptu run in their Wolf, just the two of them. She stared at him and nodded, and dodged their team to enter Roy's car, disappearing into the night.

"Are you sure Havoc didn't sense it?" Riza huffed, undoing the buttons of his shirt.

"Your heat? Absolutely. He can't sniff it in his full Human, and he didn't Change at all today." Roy kneaded her stomach with the knots of his fingers. When Riza curled up from a particularly strong cramp he placed his palms against her navel, making shushing sounds.

"He already knows," Riza growled through her teeth. "That can be inconvenient."

"There's nothing for him to _know_ about, except that his pack is very well-attuned. A real treat for any Were worth their teeth, and a reason for pride in a military unit." Roy leaned in to steal a kiss, nibbling her lower lip.

"Your confidence is heartwarming," Riza snarked, yanking Roy's shirt off and tossing it somewhere on the car floor.

"Careful with that, it's linen," he protested as Riza shoved his back against the back seat, straddling him much more firmly.

"Please shut up, sir," she deadpanned, doing a quick surveillance through the windows before reclining to kiss him. No one had followed them to that dark alley thirty blocks from the headquarters, where they hid behind an abandoned shed. They had agreed to be discreet for the moment, but to visit each other's places on other occasions in the future, with proper planning.

Now that they shared even more with one another than with anyone alive, it only felt natural. Nameless, logical, and _right_.

Roy grunted at a particularly strong bite on his neck before leaving all his musings for another time.

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! [Thank you for reading!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/842/713/b73.jpg) Comments and kudos are appreciated.


End file.
